Invasive species can be a big problem. Invasive species tend to take away resources from the native species in the environment and can make it very difficult for them to survive in their natural habitat.
However, not all non-native species are a problem. Here are some examples:
Honeybees1
Horses1
Tamarisk Trees2
Honeybees were brought over from Europe in the 1600s originally and have been brought over several more times since then. They play a very important role in our environment in keeping things pollinated and they’ve suffered drastic changes to their population numbers.2
Meanwhile, North American horses went extinct, and the horses we know and love today actually came from Spain.1
The Tamarisk tree was originally targeted to get rid of because they’ve been populating the southwestern US. However, it was discovered that they aren’t taking resources away from native trees and are providing important homes to an endangered species, the southwestern willow flycatcher.2
Because non-native species aren’t always an issue, new discussions have been popping up within the biology community regarding what to do with invasive and non-native species before it can be determined whether or not they’re harmful. Some make the point that it isn’t worth the risk to leave them be and affect native species, while others say that it could be worth evaluating their impact before eradicating them.1,2,&3
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